Ambulance antennas

Sunnyisland

Just wondering and might be a bit of a stupid question,But why have ambulances got so many antennas on there roofs,I was behind one today and it seemed they had 5, Thanks

Bang Bang

My understanding;
The Control radio transmits and receives on seperate frequencies, AVL, Repeater (only used in someregions for handheld radios) and regular cab radio.
One antenna for each of the above.

ivabiggon

i've been driving a fire brigade ambulance for years and i still don't know, i just thought i was for something we didnt have, maybe for the future??:rolleyes:

Muas Tenek

All ambulances are built with the assumption that they may be deployed anywhere in the country. So for example if an ambulance in Mayo needs to transport a patient to Dublin for a specific procedure they may travel through 2/3 different broadcasting areas, so rather than change radio frequencies manually when they change transmitter the equivalent antenna receives the frequency change.
There are four different frequencies ergo four antennae - oh and the fifth one is for listening to Joe Duffy

BrianD

Muas Tenek wrote: »

All ambulances are built with the assumption that they may be deployed anywhere in the country. So for example if an ambulance in Mayo needs to transport a patient to Dublin for a specific procedure they may travel through 2/3 different broadcasting areas, so rather than change radio frequencies manually when they change transmitter the equivalent antenna receives the frequency change.
There are four different frequencies ergo four antennae - oh and the fifth one is for listening to Joe Duffy

Not sure if that's the reason. All somebody has to do is to tune up and down. AMbulances are generally ordered for a specific local authority or service. Ambulances operating out of their region would be on duty and therefore have no need to listen to emergency comms?

What are ambulances equipped with these days - do they have more than radio or data system on board?

I suspect it's possibly to improve reception given that ambulances have a lot of flat metal surfaces.

deaglan169

antenna 1 is for the normal 2 way radio contact with control

antenna 2 and 3 are as mentioned before for the onboard repeater to relay the main control traffic over uhf to the handhelds, 1 for tx 1 for rx

the 4th antenna is for the tracking system

i have seen some with 5 not sure what its for perhaps a backup if 1 fails

Sunnyisland

Thanks everyone, Another puzzle in realies world answered :-)

cocoshovel

A question from me also. How often do Ambulances use their radio's? would it be as much as the Gardai do or what? Does the hospital have a person listening to the radio for incoming patients also?

ivabiggon

well in the DFB radio is our only way of communicating we are not allowed to carry mobile phones, so it is used all of the time, and no we don't ever communicate with any of the hospitals verbally, all our comms go through the control room. but we can transmit some information through the defib and on some of our ambulances we can send details through via the EPCR. it's on trail at the moment not fully up and running. (electronic patient care report)

markpb

ivabiggon wrote: »

well in the DFB radio is our only way of communicating we are not allowed to carry mobile phones

I never heard of that before. What's the reasoning behind that?

McWotever

Cos the radio is the only form of communication in the caves that management still live in!

Address and incident information are now automatically sent to the EPCR, for those ambulances that are fitted with them, but this is next to useless because the EPCRs are mounted in the back! The info is also communicated over the fantastic radio system.

Tiny steps forward...


Actually, I didn't really answer your question there... because it's unprofessional and firefighters can't be trusted not to be on the mobile while doing CPR or driving. The practicalities of having one doesn't come in to the equation.

Delancey

I would have thought that mobiles would permit you to send/receive information best not broadcast on the airwaves ?

999nobody

The antennae are they to look impressive cos the radios work sporadically, sometimes get answered and we can pass our detailed medical reports to the non medical staff in control.

McWotever

Delancey wrote: »

I would have thought that mobiles would permit you to send/receive information best not broadcast on the airwaves ?

Ah yea, but I'm not paying for that phone call out of my pocket, and the freefone 999 system isn't meant for messages of that nature before someone suggests it!

And they tried installing company phones in to the ambulances, they kept falling in to cups of tea and other such problems.

I'm being slightly flippant obviously, but to management, Mobile phones are New Technologies and are looked on with fear! But personally, I don't see much use for them in the emergency ambulance service in regards passing personal details etc, they would be handy for security and safety reasons though.

I can only talk from a DFB perspective.

flazio

Can ambulance crews organise medical escorts themselves or is that done through control?
Have ambulances got any way to speak directly to Gardaí who are providing medical escorts in case they need to stop or redirect?

ivabiggon

NO we cant and we never have to, i dont recall the DFB ever having to ring for an escort, as it would take too long to organise, sure we would be left the scene and at the hospital before the gardai and the dfb control co ordinated it, and i have to agree with the above posters, the dfb management dont trust us to us with phones, not even personal ones and not even the not even the officers they appoint, they aren't even on our fire trucks either, so even though we are given a phone number of the caller on our print outs, we can't contact them for better directions if we are in a rural area thus delaying a turnout as we have to transmit via the control room to ring them back and then get them to relay the directions back to us......it's a joke..if the public or the press only knew.:)

999nobody

NAS ambulances have a mobile phone hard wired into the rig on a permanent mount, comes in handy sometimes

Delancey

ivabiggon wrote: »

NO we cant and we never have to, i dont recall the DFB ever having to ring for an escort, as it would take too long to organise, sure we would be left the scene and at the hospital before the gardai and the dfb control co ordinated it, and i have to agree with the above posters, the dfb management dont trust us to us with phones, not even personal ones and not even the not even the officers they appoint, they aren't even on our fire trucks either, so even though we are given a phone number of the caller on our print outs, we can't contact them for better directions if we are in a rural area thus delaying a turnout as we have to transmit via the control room to ring them back and then get them to relay the directions back to us......it's a joke..if the public or the press only knew.

Well , they sure know now

It really does seem very backward not to have mobiles available to all crews.

BrianD

McWotever wrote: »

Cos the radio is the only form of communication in the caves that management still live in!

Address and incident information are now automatically sent to the EPCR, for those ambulances that are fitted with them, but this is next to useless because the EPCRs are mounted in the back! The info is also communicated over the fantastic radio system.

Tiny steps forward...


Actually, I didn't really answer your question there... because it's unprofessional and firefighters can't be trusted not to be on the mobile while doing CPR or driving. The practicalities of having one doesn't come in to the equation.

Why would you rely on the mobile phone network? A dedicated radio system is better. Now, if the receiver is in the back of the vehicle that does not make sense.